The Conservatives today accused the Fire Brigade's Union of being "Saddam's friends" who had deliberately timed their next strike to coincide with possible military action against Iraq.

The Conservatives today accused the Fire Brigade's Union of being "Saddam's friends" who had deliberately timed their next strike to coincide with possible military action against Iraq. Shadow defence secretary Bernard Jenkin urged the Government to ban the walkout, due on Thursday, if Britain is at war with Iraq.

Trial resumes

THE trial of three Britons who claim they were tortured and forced to sign false confessions while in an Egyptian jail was due to resume today after a seven-week delay.

Ian Nisbet, Maajid Nawaz and Reza Pankhurst, all in their 20s and from the London area, are accused of promoting the goals of a banned Islamic group, including the overthrow of the Egyptian state.

Cereal cash

KELLOGG'S Corn Flakes have been given a &#xA3;10 million makeover to mark 80 years since their arrival in the UK, the company announced today.

Part of the money has been spent designing a new foil bag to replace the existing wax-coated bags which fit inside the box. The first boxes of Kellogg's Corn Flakes went on sale in the UK in 1923.

Older buyers

FIRST-TIME buyers are becoming older and putting down larger deposits as people wait longer to get on to the property ladder, research showed today. Halifax, Britain's biggest mortgage lender, said the average age of a first-time buyer was 33 in 2002, compared with 31 20 years ago. The survey found during the same period the average price of the first home people buy has soared by 294 per cent, from just &#xA3;21,468 in 1983 to &#xA3;84,649 last year.

War debate

LIBERAL Democrat leader Charles Kennedy was today treading a fine line between opposing war and backing British troops as Iraq overshadowed his party's spring conference.

Key members of his team were seeking to push the party's policies on tax, the economy and law and order. But an emergency debate on the international crisis dominated the agenda at the gathering in Torquay, Devon.

Crime pledge

A CONSERVATIVE Government would crack down hard on crime - by teaching police officers to type. Oliver Letwin, the shadow home secretary, said producing crime reports more quickly would give officers extra time to pound the beat and catch criminals.